Top 10 Movie Plot Holes That Can Actually Be EXPLAINED

The Terminator (1984)


After being chased through a factory by a murderous robot from the future, Sarah Connor narrowly escapes its grasp, trapping it in a hydraulic press. In a triumphant moment, she grabs control of the machine, activates it, and destroys the titular android once and for all. But how did Sarah, a waitress with seemingly no technical background and no prior experience in this factory, know how to activate what appeared to be a literal deus ex machina? Easy: she had already done it just a few minutes before. Attempting to hide from the Terminator, she accidentally pressed the button, blowing their cover. In fact, the same button that had doomed her earlier ended up being her salvation in the end.

Armageddon (1998)


When the time came to save the world, NASA needed to drill a giant hole in an asteroid, drop a nuke, and split the asteroid in half. They did this by training drillers to be astronauts, but why not do the opposite? This question became so well-known that even star Ben Affleck discussed asking Michael Bay about it in the DVD commentary. While Affleck reports that Bay gave him a rather abrupt answer, there is a more concrete rationale in the film. A character mentions they already have trained astronauts to use the drill with little success. In a time crunch, NASA called in drilling experts to manage the drilling while the astronauts handled all the complicated space stuff.

A Quiet Place (2018)


When sound-sensitive killer aliens invade Earth, finding a way to avoid being heard is a matter of life and death. One way the family in A Quiet Place does this is by talking near the cacophony of an immense waterfall, which drowns out their conversations. So, this naturally raises the question, Why not just live there? On its face, this makes sense until you realize they would be giving up the food and shelter of the farmhouse they lived on, and swapping their solar-powered home for some wet rocks. While they might be safe from the aliens if they never moved from the falls, actually surviving there wasnt a realistic option.

Toy Story (1995)


Here we have to differentiate between a plot hole and something noteworthy that isn't explicitly explained in the film. What is explained in Toy Story is that toys come to life when we arent around, and that Buzz doesn't think hes a toy. So if he thinks hes a real space ranger, why does he freeze whenever Andy enters the room and/or plays with him? It could be something all toys do subconsciously, regardless if they believe they are toys or not, similar to the fight-or-flight theory - though Woody is able to break the freezing rule during the toys encounter with Sid. It might simply be that Buzz is following the lead of the other toys, or that its part of what he thinks is his astronaut programming. Either way, as Toy Story 4 points out, when it comes to living toys, we dont really understand the rules.

The Matrix (1999)


Early in The Matrix, its established that humans can only enter and exit the simulated reality with the help of an operator. So, naturally when the traitorous Cypher meets with Agent Smith, fans of The Matrix cried foul. He couldnt possibly be sitting down for a digital steak unless he was let in by the very crew he planned to betray! When asked about this, The Wachowskis clarified this by pointing to a scene where Cypher, surprised by Neo, quickly turned off some code he was working on. They confirmed that this code was something Cypher had created to discreetly gain entry into the Matrix.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)


After a brutal fight with Bane leaves Batman with a broken back, hes imprisoned in a large hole halfway around the world. In a dramatic sequence, he escapes the pit. The next time we see him, hes back in Gotham somehow. The simple answer as to how Bruce Wayne got all the way back to Gotham is, well, hes Batman. Based on what Fox says about the nuclear bomb going off in 23 days, its reasonable to assume he had about a month to travel back. Meanwhile, despite losing much of his fortune, he still had substantial financial resources at his disposal thanks to the international operations of Wayne Enterprises. Plus, weve already seen Bruce make his way across the world in Batman Begins.

Back to the Future (1985)


In the 1985 film Back to the Future, teen Marty McFly spends a significant amount of time with past versions of his parents before returning to his own time. When he gets home, despite many changes, they dont recognize that they had met their son in the past. Although this experience felt instantaneous to Marty, at this point it has been thirty years for his parents. Moreover, they have no photos of their time with the younger version of Marty. Over the years, as they watched their son grow up, it would be nearly impossible for them to notice the resemblance to the person they briefly knew, since the change occurs so gradually. Also, its not like time travel was commonplace (or even a feasible option for them to think of happening)!

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)


Over the course of The Shawshank Redemption, we see the imprisoned Andy Dufresne adorn the wall of his prison cell with rotating posters of a Hollywood starlet. These posters not only help the audience track the passage of time, but also play a crucial role in the films twist ending. At the climax, the warden notices that behind the pinup of Raquel Welch is a tunnel dug by Andy in his long planned escape to freedom. This raises the question: how could Andy have hung the poster back up after escaping? According to Robbins, the answer is simple: Andy only hung it from the top, allowing it to fall back into place as he departed.

The Lord of the Rings franchise (2001-03)


More than once, when the Fellowship or any of its members are in trouble, giant eagles swoop in and save the characters. So why do they have to bother to walk to Mordor to destroy the ring when they couldve gotten a ride? Or better yet, why not just have the eagles drop it in the volcano? The eagles are powerful beings associated with the gods, and they dont exist just to do other beings bidding. Asking them to carry the ring (provided they actually agreed to it) would spoil the one advantage the fellowship had: stealth. As Gandalf and Galadriel demonstrate, it's also better for a seemingly insignificant hobbit to carry the ring, rather than a powerful being - like them or the Eagles - that could be corrupted.

Titanic (1997)


The tragic tale of star-crossed lovers aboard the ship of dreams comes to a tragic end when Jack freezes in the icy Atlantic. Rose narrowly survives the same fate by clinging to a large wooden piece of debris. But that piece of wood was pretty big. Surely there was enough room for both Jack and Rose? However, there is actually a good reason why Jack stays in the water. The wood was in no way buoyant enough to support them both. As well, the characters likely werent equipped with either the proper know-how to be able to keep themselves afloat and in the panic of the moment, they probably werent in the proper state of mind to even be successful at it. To drive the point home, Jack even tries to get on the wood, which nearly drags them both down.


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